Ch.224Blackout

I noticed that horses I’m connected to don’t seem to live out their natural lifespans.

As I switched to my fourth horse, that thought suddenly occurred to me.

My first horse had its leg torn by a fallen warrior’s blade.

The replacement suffocated in smoke, and the third just became a porcupine in a rain of arrows.

I hope this one lasts a bit longer.

I kick away an archer on horseback who’s desperately aiming at me, then mount the saddle covered in blood and entrails.

All around me were charred pieces of Ka’har corpses. Smoke rose thickly.

[There, over there! The one escaping on the black horse! That’s Amin! After him!]

Hersella shouted urgently.

No, if you say “over there” in my head, how am I supposed to know which direction?

I turn to scan my surroundings. Indeed, a black horse was desperately galloping away. In the opposite direction from me.

It was like a reverse charge painted in a picture.

A warrior who appeared to be his guard was running alongside him.

“Haaaaaah!”

The man violently swung the weapon in his hand at a knight trying to block their path.

A cavalry spear with a blade on its side. What was it called? A halberd?

The lightning-fast swing of the halberd pressed down on the knight’s longsword and drove straight through.

The knight’s neck was severed pathetically. Blood gushed upward from his neck.

‘Looks like a Champion.’

Not quite at Havabar’s level, but still quite powerful.

[That’s Champion Jargal. One of the few warriors loyal to Amin.]

‘I heard Amin was incredibly violent and incompetent. Why would someone as strong as a Champion be loyal to someone like that?’

[He apparently got medicine for his lover or sister’s illness from Amin. It’s loyalty bought with money, but a life debt is still a life debt.]

‘Strange to see such honor among the Ka’har.’

Hersella sighed.

[…You seem to think of us as mere beasts, but Ka’har are people too. There are plenty who are weak-hearted and loyal, just like anywhere else.]

Yeah, I don’t consider raiders and murderers to be people.

I charge toward them, tearing apart enemies blocking my way with my spear and sword.

Fortunately, Amin wasn’t moving particularly fast.

The distance gradually closes. I can even hear him shouting.

“Damn! Damn! Damn it all! The ghost woman is coming! Run faster, I said!”

His voice was desperate, half-crazed with fear.

‘He seems terrified of you. Did you do something to him?’

[Didn’t I tell you? About 9 years ago… I plucked out his eye for speaking insolently. Ever since then, he acts like that whenever he sees me.]

Nine years ago? Wasn’t that before you were even ten?

Plucking out your brother’s eye… you were a ruthless woman from the start. What a lovely sibling relationship.

I spur my horse forward in pursuit and call out to him.

“Amiiiiin-! Your sister has come to visit, where are you going without even saying hello? Let me give my little brother a huuuug!”

[Please, stop saying such nonsense with my body! I’m embarrassed!]

Hersella shouted angrily inside my head. Her voice was trembling.

No, this is all provocation, just provocation.

There was no answer from Amin.

Ignoring me and running away? Even when I’m calling so desperately.

“Not even acknowledging me, how sad for your sister! You must be punished for hurting your sister’s feelings!”

“You crazy ghost woman! Have you finally gone mad?!”

Amin, unable to hold back anymore, screamed hysterically.

“Don’t engage with her! It’s just provocation!”

Jargal urgently tried to calm Amin. Amin, who seemed about to stop, started running again.

Hmm. I can’t make him stop with just provocation.

Then I’ll have to try the next method.

I draw my bow and nock an arrow. The arrowhead glows red.

Amin glanced in my direction and shuddered.

“The Red Vortex is coming! Jargal! Block it!”

The Red Vortex? I didn’t know this archery technique had such a name.

It works on the same principle as the Blade Net, but I didn’t know it had a different name.

Maybe…

‘I have a question. When did you create this technique?’

[Probably when I was about fifteen? Not long after I became a Champion.]

Right. At fifteen, that’s understandable.

It’s an age when everyone goes through “that phase.”

I nod and aim my bow.

Jargal glared sharply at me.

I don’t particularly intend to target Amin or you.

A light twang sound. The arrow I released pierces through the heat haze.

The heated air disperses with the impact, leaving a round wave. A red tail followed like a comet.

Jargal’s expression twisted in dismay as he confirmed the arrow’s direction.

“Oh no…!”

A vortex of murder karma burst from the arrow as it penetrated its target.

Red blades tear up the ground in a frenzy. The earth spewed flesh.

[Hooh.]

Hersella murmured with satisfaction. I nock another arrow and shoot it the same way.

Aiming just ahead of where Amin and Jargal were running.

An arrow shot with reduced power in an arc.

Even for a Champion, there seemed to be no way to block an arrow traveling through the air above his head.

The arrow embedded in the ground blooms once more.

“What a cunning trick…!”

Jargal gritted his teeth. Thanks for the compliment.

Now they must choose.

Either ignore me and charge straight into the blade storm, or turn around and stop my shooting.

Of course, Jargal and Amin had only one choice.

“Lord Amin! Keep running!”

Jargal pulled his reins and turned toward me. Amin continued running without looking back.

What a valuable subordinate wasted on him.

“Haschal!”

The sound of hooves shook the ground. His halberd flashed crimson in the firelight.

Another Champion charging at high speed.

The phantom pain in my healed wrist throbs as I recall the ordeal from hours ago.

However, unlike Havabar who charged like a tank, Jargal’s momentum seemed rather ordinary.

Come to think of it, didn’t they say that even among Champions, many haven’t mastered that horseback technique? That’s fortunate.

“Jargaaaal!”

I put away my bow and charge back, shouting. My left hand gripping the spear pulled back behind my shoulder.

My arm and shoulder were a bit stiff, but it wasn’t really a problem.

The thrown spear cuts through the air.

Just like before, it was aimed at Amin, not Jargal. Jargal gritted his teeth and drew his sword, throwing it at the spear’s trajectory.

With a clear metallic sound, the spear collided with the curved blade and spun away into the distance.

“You won’t target Lord Amin!”

Jargal’s halberd cuts through the wind as it approaches.

Expecting me to easily dodge a direct attack, the sharp blade was aimed not at me but at my horse’s neck.

But what can I do? I have no intention of dueling with you.

Just before the halberd made contact, I leap up from the horse’s back.

The horse with its back broken let out a pitiful scream.

“What…?!”

Because his target suddenly bent in half, the halberd blade that was meant to cut through the neck sliced horizontally through the horse’s head and lodged deep in its body.

Jargal’s body wobbled for an instant.

With the force of the blocked attack combined with my horse’s speed and weight all transferred to the halberd, it was impressive horsemanship that he didn’t fall.

I roll on the ground to land and throw two short daggers.

Jargal frantically twisted the shaft of his halberd. The dagger aimed at his head bounced off the shaft.

But that was merely a feint. The second dagger, thrown low and grazing, drove toward the legs of his mount.

A clang of collision. The dagger blocked by the halberd’s blade flew sideways, roughly scraping the horse’s thigh.

His horse screamed and collapsed.

At least, that’s what I thought I heard.

I had already started running at full speed toward Amin right after throwing the daggers.

A speed that Jargal couldn’t match even on horseback.

The strength I had been gathering over several hours was rapidly depleting, causing a sense of exhaustion to squeeze my chest.

Each time my toes touch the ground, the earth shatters. Broken soil and rock fragments flutter behind me like a cape.

I advance through the headwind that blocks me like a solid wall, streaming it away with a veil of murder karma shaped for aerodynamics.

– Kwaaaaa!

The displaced air returns with flames, creating a firestorm.

Like a burning dragon advancing across the ground.

“Aaaack-! Huaaaack! Don’t come! Don’t come, you monster!”

Amin looked back and screamed hysterically upon seeing me.

His one remaining eye was widened to the point of tearing.

“Amiiiiin! It’s time for your punishment!”

[You’ve lost your mind…]

Ignoring Hersella’s muttering, I approach my newly-met brother with a smile.

His face comes closer in an instant.

The next moment, Durandal’s blade slices through the hind legs of the galloping black horse.

—-

“Uwaaah!”

Because the legs it was trying to push off with were severed, Amin’s horse crashed rear-first into the ground.

With the momentum it had been running at, it slid forward along the ground, and with its rear end hitting first, the part that touched the ground was…

Well, I can only hope he’s not male.

Judging by his bulging-eyed screams, unfortunately he seems to be male.

“Just die already!”

Amin, apparently at least warrior-class, didn’t fall off but jumped up and swung his sword at me from mid-air.

Well, in the end he was just at the level of an ordinary warrior.

“That’s dangerous, you know?”

I caught the descending blade with Frosting and placed it on the ground.

Amin’s body spun like a top and crashed down.

“Kuhek!”

“I’ll confiscate this.”

I lightly kick Amin’s right hand holding the sword.

The curved blade flies away and embeds itself in a distant tent. Crushed flesh clung to the hilt, dripping like porridge.

“Gyaaaaaaah! My hand! My haaaand! You crazy bitch!”

“Such dramatics.”

Amin clutched his right wrist, screaming and struggling.

Between the burst cross-section, broken bone fragments were stained red.

“Your sister has so many things she wants to ask her little brother… but unfortunately, there’s not much time.”

I looked at the fire arrow soaring into the sky.

The retreat signal. It meant the mission objective was accomplished and we should withdraw.

Besides, Jargal would be diligently running this way too.

A mere fall from a horse wouldn’t have injured him much.

“You damn jumping bitch! Cursed ghost woman! I should have killed you ten years ago!”

A screeching voice.

The curses he screamed like wails contained nothing but fear.

“What kind of language is that to use with your sister? You really do need punishment.”

I kneel down, press Amin’s body down with my left hand, and bring my right hand to his eye.

If I wound him with Frosting, he’ll die before long.

Amin’s pupils shook as if facing an avalanche.

“Nooooo! Finger! Get that finger away, you monster! Jargal! Jargaaaaal!”

As if trying to shake me off, he thrashed his body and shook his head wildly.

“Ah, just stay still.”

I pressed down his upper body with my entire left arm, not just my hand.

This almost looks like I’m embracing him. Amin must be happy with his sister’s hug after so long.

My fingertips touched his eyelid.

Amin’s entire body trembled, and a smell of urine rose sharply.

“Wetting yourself? You’re still no different from a child?”

I smile sweetly as I slowly push my finger in.

With the pressure on his eyeball, Amin’s pupil bulged slightly. He shed tears.

If I gently pull it out now…

“I’m…”

“Hmm?”

Amin mumbled something.

“I’m… sorry… Lady Haschal… Just once, just this once please forgive me…! Please… please not my eye…!”

Trembling violently, Amin begs for forgiveness pathetically, tears and snot streaming down.

Hersella burst into laughter.

—-

“Hmm…”

I tilted my head as if contemplating.

I wasn’t really thinking about it, just having fun.

‘What should I do? He’s trembling and begging like this.’

[Well…]

I catch a dagger that’s reaching out as if looking for an opening. Amin’s left hand trembled.

His expression turns to despair.

Did he think such a sneak attack would work?

[You know without me telling you, right?]

That’s right.

I take the dagger and drive it down like a nail. Amin’s left hand is pinned to the ground.

“Aaaaargh!”

“What a foolish little brother. Did you think something like that would work on your sister? Now, for your punishment.”

I thrust three fingers into Amin’s eyelid.

With a squelching sensation, I grasp the slippery orb. Then I pull my hand.

– Ppudeuk!

As the optic nerve tears away in an instant, the white fleshy orb is extracted.

The spurting blood stream wets my cheek.

“Kuaaaaaaah!”

Amin convulsed, stretching out his limbs. Foamy saliva dripped from his filthy mouth.

“Fuuuuck! My eye! My eeeeeye! Aaaaargh! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you, Haschal!”

How noisy.

I gently placed the extracted eye into his wide-open mouth.

“Now, look carefully at the scene before your eyes. Isn’t it dark?”

Amin choked and struggled with his throat blocked.

“…That’s your future, Amin.”